From economics to data science for government : a (long) journey

My story (in short)

1. Graduate/PhD Student in Economics at PSE/CREST
2. Data journalist at Ask Media
3. Data scientist at Etalab

I was interested in

1. applied econometrics/evaluation of public policies
2. labor economics/economics of education
3. political economy
4. …

Sources of inspiration

• Joshua Angrist : IV models, etc
• Charles Manski : Identification problems for the social sciences
• Eric Maurin :
• Andrew Gelman :
• Gary King : developing statistical methodes but also software !

My research

Teaching was a great experience

• I’ve been teaching at Cachan :
• econometrics
• statistics
• game theory
• decision theory
• growth theory
• It’s a great experience

Why did I not finished py Phd ?

• too curious, not enough focus.
• without deadline, procrastination can be infinite !
• isolation : I wanted to learn by myself, instead of asking others.

3 tips for not giving up your doctorate

• stay focus on your research/papers. Don’t be too curious.
• learn from others/ don’t try to learn everything by yourself
• do things you can do. Don’t try to do what you can’t do.

How to find a job when you leave research

• Attend meetups : data tuesdays
• Attend hackathons/open data camps
• Participate to non profit organization : Open knowledge foundation
• Write emails to interesting people and meet them

What is data journalism ?

What is data journalism ? (last)

• Using data to produce meaningful facts for the media
• Go beyond anecdotal information
• Tell data stories using data visualisation

How I got hired in 1/2 hour without applying for any job offer

Hi, I’m interested in what you do. I’d be happy to talk with you.

• After 1/2 hour discussing with Ask Media team, they offered me a job.
• I had my first employment contract without ever applying for a job offer !

What was Ask Media ?

• a media agency working with newspapers such as Le Parisien, Paris Match, La Tribune, etc
• a small team of journalists, graphists, web developers
• specialized in : infographics, data visualisation, data journalism and explainers.

What have we done at Ask Media ?

Inspiring figures in the field of dataviz / datajournalism

• Mike Bostock and The Upshot
• Emile Cheysson : unknown French pionneer
• Edward Tufte : The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
• John Burn-Murdoch (FT Interactive) : Visual vocabulary

What is Etalab ? (in short)

• French government’s open data team
• but also : open government
• and … data science team

What is a data scientist ?

What is a data scientist ?

Data scientists want to build things, not just give advice. One describes being a consultant as “the dead zone.”

Thomas H. Davenport and D.J. Patil

What is a data scientist in the government ?

• Using a predictive algorithm to improve the probability to find illegaly converted buildings
• MODA 2013 Annual report

What do we do at Etalab ?

• Open data
• Data governance/data policy
• Data science and artificial intelligence for the public sector

The data governance report

3 axes for data policy

• producing high quality key datasets
• improving data flow while respecting confidentiality
• using data to improve public action

What are our ways of acting?

1. maker way : develop products and tools
2. legal way : drafting the law, defining a policy
3. people way : supporting public administration and working with the civil society

Producing high quality key datasets

Giving legal recognition to « reference data » (Digital Republic Act, 2016)

9 key datasets that are critical for the society and economy, including :

• Company Register (Sirene),
• Land Register (Cadastre),
• National adresses database,
• National directory of associations

Improving data flow

Legal way

• Free access to public data has now become the rule. Exceptions to this principle are now very strictly regulated.
  
• The Digital Republic Act (2016) has considerably expanded the range of administrative documents available online, moving from release on demand to open data by default (effective in 2018)

using data to improve public action

Why is it so nice to work at Etalab ?

1. People are autonomous : we have a great freedom in what we do
2. People who are not afraid to learn : we are not specialists of everything but we are willing to learn
3. People have values : many of us are engaged in free knowledge, open data movement, etc
4. People are willing to debate together, learn from others, etc : many discussions inside of the team

Why is it so nice to work at Etalab ?

1. Everyone has specific skills : data science, full stack development, legal skills
2. But everyone do much more than its area of expertise

See more

Twitter : https://twitter/pa_chevalier

mail : pachevalier@gmail.com

Github : http://github.com/pachevalier